Terror attack delays Maha book village plan in J&K’s Aragam

Pune: Had everything gone according to the plan, Maharashtra tourists would have flipped through Marathi books at Aragam in Bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir from May. Pahalgam terror attack would delay the inauguration of Maharashtra govt's maiden book village outside the state.

Maharashtra's Bhilar village has been tagged as India's first book village. A similar book village was in the offing at Aragam village. Pune-based NGO Sarhad has been assisting state govt in setting it up. According to the original plan, preparations were in the final phase. The official inauguration was slated on May 2.

Following the terror attack in Pahalgam on Tuesday, Marathi language minister Uday Samant posted a message on his social media. "Attracting the Kashmiri youth towards the reading culture was our idea behind setting up the book village in Aragam. However, due to the Pakistan-sponsored cowardly terrorist attack, we will have to postpone the inauguration. Nevertheless, the book village will be set up in the near future," Samant wrote.

Along with the Maharashtra govt and Sarhad NGO, the local administration of Bandipora district is also involved in setting up the book village. Sanjay Nahar, the founder of Sarhad NGO, told TOI, "The idea behind setting up the book village in Jammu and Kashmir is to encourage the Kashmiri youth to leave aside gun culture and take up the book culture. A large number of tourists visit Kashmir every year. This initiative would help to boost tourism further in Kashmir. It would also help strengthen the ties between Maharashtra and Kashmir. The project has been postponed because of the terror attack."

According to the coordinators, books are in place at Aragam in Bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir. Villagers were waiting to welcome the tourists when the terror attack occurred.

Siraj Uddin Khan, the coordinator of the book village, told TOI, "We were very excited as a new concept was being introduced in Kashmir. We moved plenty of books from Maharashtra to Aragam, and the decoration of the village was also almost done. After the terror attack, we do not know for how many days or months we will have to wait to inaugurate this unique concept in Kashmir. We hope that normality prevails in Kashmir at the earliest so that the youths get access to books in the village."

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